Airline of the year 2006

[Fireman Sam 336]

They must be having a laugh surely.

 

 

AIRLINE OF THE YEAR 2006 - RESULTS

 

Regional Results

 

British Airways has been announced as the 2006 Airline of the Year in the World Airline Awards. In second place is Qantas .... with the 2005 winner, Cathay Pacific, ranked in 3rd position for 2006.

 

 

BRITISH AIRWAYS Commercial Director, Martin George, said ... "We are delighted to have won the prestigious accolade of airline of the year. The World Airline Awards are judged by the people whose opinions we value the most - our customers. We thank them for their continued support of British Airways. The award demonstrates yet again that British Airways is offering the service our customers expect and considered among the best performing and popular airlines in the world. We will continue to invest in our people and products to offer the excellent service our customers have come to expect".

 

 

THE WORLD'S TOP AIRLINES - 2006

 

AIRLINE OF THE YEAR 2006

Rank Airline 2005

1 British Airways 5th

2 Qantas Airways 2nd

3 Cathay Pacific 1st

4 Thai Airways 7th

5 Emirates 3rd

6 Qatar Airways 8th

7 Singapore Airlines 4th

8 A N A 10th

9 Malaysia Airlines 6th

10 China Airlines 16th

© Skytrax Research

 

Commenting on the World Airline Awards, Edward Plaisted (CEO, Skytrax) said

......"the World Airline Survey is recognised across the globe as the leading independent monitor of passenger opinions - the survey process offering the only truly worldwide project, with open and uninfluenced results. The final total of 13.61 million eligible, completed survey interviews was beyond our expectations, and we extend a very big thank you to all those customers who participated."

 

"Our congratulations go to the 2006 Airline of the Year winner, British Airways. In contrast to several previous year surveys, we found that the level of nominations for British Airways by their premium passengers was proportionately much higher than that of other airlines in the Top 10 rankings - clearly they are doing something right in that particular market. An airline undergoing considerable changes and cutting product levels to compete across Europe with the low-cost airline competition, a key element to emerge in the passenger voting for British Airways was that it performs well in terms of general product and service consistency."

 

Contrasting with the higher support for British Airways from their premium customers, the final rankings for Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways and Emirates were much more influenced by nominations from their Economy class customers.

 

"Qantas takes the 2nd place Silver Award, repeating their 2004/5 performance, and demonstrating that they are well-established amongst the top quality airlines in the world. A strong performer in other 2006 Category Awards, we will be watching with interest to see if they can push themselves into the top position next year!" added Plaisted.

 

The 2005 winner, Cathay Pacific, was ranked in 3rd position for the 2006 World Airline Awards, with Thai Airways in 4th place, and Emirates in 5th. Thai Airways enjoyed further success in the Awards, being named as Worlds Best Cabin Staff for 2006.

 

Continuing its upward rise in the Award rankings, Qatar Airways takes 6th position (up from 8th in 2005), ahead of Singapore Airlines (SIA) in 7th - SIA being a previous Airline of the Year winner in 2004. Qatar Airways strong performance extended to winning the Awards for Best Airline Middle East, together with achieving 2nd place worldwide in the Best Cabin Staff category.

 

Japan's ANA is another airline that improved on its previous-year ranking, moving into 8th place for 2006 (from 10th last year). A regular top 10 performer, Malaysia Airlines ranks 9th this year, slipping slightly from 6th position in 2005. The final Top 10 place goes to Taiwan's China Airlines, making a jump of 6 places from their 2005 ranking.

 

"We are already in planning for the 2006/7 World Airline Survey" said Plaisted, "and expect even wider coverage as more language options are offered up for online completion. This past year, we were able to provide English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese versions to our Business Research Group members, and clearly it is going to be beneficial to extend that across many more customers for the upcoming survey."

 

"The range of results published in the 2006 Awards are more extensive than ever before, and I hope you will take a few minutes to explore around the different categories. Like so many things in life, what is good for one is not for another .... what you like, I may not - but what I hope is properly represented across the World Airline Awards is the opinion of the majority" added Plaisted.

 

London - 12th June 2006

 

 

 

Any further enquiries should be directed to:

 

Mr Peter Miller

Marketing Director

SKYTRAX RESEARCH

E-mail: miller@airlinequality.com

 

Some people with very short memories, strikes cancellations etc etc.

 

Would not fly with them if free.

[torrenova 644]

That has got to be a joke. BA first ? No way in the back of the plane. Who writes these reports ?

[MrMango 667]

Who writes these reports ?

The best reporters that money can buy.

[TheFiend 1,181]

THE WORLD'S TOP AIRLINES - 2006

 

AIRLINE OF THE YEAR 2006

Rank Airline 2005

1 British Airways 5th

2 Qantas Airways 2nd

3 Cathay Pacific 1st

4 Thai Airways 7th

5 Emirates 3rd

6 Qatar Airways 8th

7 Singapore Airlines 4th

8 A N A 10th

9 Malaysia Airlines 6th

10 China Airlines 16th

© Skytrax Research

 

Have you noticed the distinct lack of American airlines in the top 10?

Edited April 23, 2007 by TheFiend

[guido13 0]

Have you noticed the distinct lack of American airlines in the top 10?

 

No surprise, US air carriers suck.

[bambu 0]

American Airlines suck. I just find it amusing that even China Air placed and no US carriers did...Flying Thai Air's premium ecnomy class to BKK in a few weeks ;-) Should be nice.

[neilri2001 42]

I fly BA fairly often in Europe where even club class fares can be really good value if you book at the right time and i find the service ( especially the online booking ) to be very good. I don't use them so much long haul as long hall business class is too expensive. Bargains can be found in premium economy but this cabin is usually too small for me as i like to get up to stretch my legs a bit

 

Neil

[don_dadda 0]

No surprise, US air carriers suck.

COMPLETELY AGREE!!!

[Gus 97]

I didn't see Adam air or Phuket air mentioned

Probably Adam Air have crashed all their aircraft

[player 1]

I would expect to find the American airlines listed in the bottom 10 perhaps.

Interesting that most of the top 10 are asian airlines.

 

What's the matter with China Airlines? I've flown them for years and always made it back home safely!

[Sum Ting Wong 2]

No surprise, US air carriers suck.

 

But do they swallow?

 

Sum Ting Wong

[bangkapiboy 5]

In coach it seems the airlines are much the same...

[Emil 0]

No surprise, US air carriers suck.

 

I rank United as the tops when it comes to cost and that all I really care about. In 2005 I made 6 R/Ts to LOS from Sacramento at an average cost of $600. In 2006 I made another 6 R/Ts at an average cost of $400. This year I hope to do even better. I have to admit that their FAs are nothing to get excited about, but I've never been able to shag any of the FAs with Cathay Pacific or Singapore nor have I ever heard of any of our boardmembers getting lucky with them.

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

From the San Jose Mercury News this past Sunday:

 

Perkins: Airline scores don't give a full picture

By Ed Perkins

Article Launched: 04/22/2007 01:51:15 AM PDT

 

 

After this past winter's major hassles for airlines, the latest Airline Quality Rating (AQR) scores are getting even more attention than usual.

 

AQR scores are a weighted composite of published Department of Transportation data on on-time arrivals, "bumped" fliers, mishandled baggage and complaints. Prepared by professors at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Wichita State University, it is based purely on statistics. Though AQR scores may help you choose an airline, what they really measure is airline reliability.

 

Overall, the new report indicates, the industry's performance was worse in 2006 than in 2005. The ranking of the largest U.S. airlines, in descending order, is Hawaiian, JetBlue, AirTran, Frontier, Northwest, Southwest, Continental, United, Alaska, American, ATA, Delta, and US Airways.

 

But those data actually measure each airline's performance, not overall quality. What else goes into overall quality? Certainly seating dimensions - legroom and seat width - in-flight entertainment options and food and beverage service, if any, and ease and speed of check-in and boarding procedures, speed of baggage delivery, ease of Web site use, attention from ground and flight crew, and availability of frequent-flier seats and upgrades.

 

You could develop numerical measures of seat space and per-passenger food service expenses, but you can't really find measures for the other service elements of quality.

 

If you want to measure true airline quality (as opposed to just reliability), you have no choice but to rely on surveys. Among the most extensive (and most readily available to consumers) is published by Skytrax, a London-based research organization. It rates some 480 airlines worldwide, using one to five stars:

Airlines based in Asia and the Gulf region walk off with top scores. The only lines to get five stars are Cathay Pacific, Malaysia, Qatar and Singapore.

 

Thirty-five airlines rate four stars. The only U.S.-based lines are three with restricted "low-cost" ratings: Frontier, JetBlue and Midwest.

 

All other U.S. lines - along with most of the others - fall into the huge three-star group.

 

Skytrax doesn't release its methodology. But it says that ratings are set in context: International lines have to pass tougher tests than domestic lines, and low-fare lines earn good marks if they deliver what they promise. What it doesn't say - but what seems clear from the results - is that ratings are biased toward business class. How else can you explain a four-star rating for Virgin, with its outstanding business class but underwhelming economy cabin?

 

My conclusion: AQR scores may be helpful in selecting an airline with the lowest risk of being delayed or having your bags lost, but they won't tell you anything about how good a flight you're likely to have. Skytrax does better for quality.

 

My personal ratings for overall quality in the rear cabin: JetBlue and Midwest Signature Service are tops for domestic trips, Air New Zealand and EVA for travel overseas.

[MC_Ldop 40]

I agree with the others that say US carriers generally suck. That said, I was happy with United for 2006. All my international upgrades went through and only one of my domestic upgrades didn't clear. If you fly them lots, they generally do right by you (compared to other US carriers).

[Mescalito 19]

Interesting results, and as others have mentioned the lack of US carriers is no surprise at all. I've only flown 3 of the top 10 listed: Thai, China, and BA. I'm surprised that Korean Air didn't make it to the list as my flights on them have been exceptional. I'd fly them to LOS instead of China Airlines but their fares, and in biz class in particular, have become so much higher than CI that I just can't justify it.

 

I've always had excellent service, food, etc on China Airlines, and I've noticed even some improvements the last couple of years. My Thai Airways experience was limited to a r/t between Pattaya/Utapao and Phuket, but the flight on that turbo-prop provided more comfort, better food and better service than any domestic flight I've taken lately in the US. I took BA r/t from LAX to London a couple of years ago as well as between London & Glasgow and found it perfectly acceptable.

[jacko 8,813]

Another year and another standard. I would recommend avoid BA and London Heathrow if at all possible. Heathrow is a shambles these days. My recent flights. BKK-LHR-MAN-LHR-BKK just highlighted how good Bangkok is.

 

Outward...late arrival in LHR. Unable to move jetway to aircraft, trapped on plane. Missed connection. Transferred to British Midland by a very rude BA service agent, British Midland left late and they charge for a cup of coffee (£1.75)

 

Return. Slow security (3 checks before boarding), late departure from Manchester (no information given). Plane parked miles away in LHR, sat trapped on plane 35 minutes as no busses available. Dropped on wrong side of security in Terminal 1 LHR, repeat security checks and mad dash to terminal 4. Late push off from gate there, then plane stuck at end of runway for 30 minutes awaiting some clearance (reason given, computer down). Poor in-flight service, in World Traveller Plus..... 1 drink and 1 little bottle of wine is the limit, requests for a drink get you put on the 'ignore list'....Over 1 hour late arrival.

 

Try complaining to BA, someone called Gupta sends out the standard blurb letter proving your complaint was not even read. They don't give a shit!

Edited April 25, 2007 by jacko